1. Technical Field
The present invention relates generally to automatically tracking the presence or absence of multiple assets at a stationary or mobile location and differentiating between individual assets or groups of assets owned by one or more parties at a single stationary or mobile location. More particularly, the present invention is especially useful to tracking tools used in the reclamation business such as humidifiers, air movers, thermometers, humidity detectors, gauges, and the like by combining multiple positioning techniques and mathematical algorithms.
2. Related Art
Position or location tracking is a crucial component of inventory or resource management systems. Location tracking systems can employ a variety of real-time positioning sensors that continuously or periodically provide position data for tracking the location of resources. These systems commonly acquire the locations of vehicles, equipment, or inventory based on principles of either triangulation or proximity with respect to known locations determined from sensors. Typical sensors used include Global Positioning System (GPS), Differential Global Positioning System (DGPS), Integrated Differential Global Positioning System and Inertial Navigation System (DGPS/INS), Real Time Locating System (RTLS), RTLS/GPS, RTLS/INS, transponders and ultra wideband locating systems.
Limitations in physics, however, generally prevent real-time positioning systems from achieving 100% reliability or accuracy. Examples of those limitations with respect to radio-wave positioning include obstacles blocking line of sight position signals, or signals reflected from nearby surfaces (multi-path). Further practical limitations in sensor technologies include electromagnetic and other inherited noise and biases in measurements, as well as a poor signal to noise ratio resulting from environmental interference sources. These limitations result in common positioning errors such as inaccuracies, loss of position, or location drifts causing erroneous position or inventory data.
Even when more accurate real-time position data can be determined through a combination of sensors, data and methods, these solutions do not solve another important problem in the inventory and resource tracking environment, namely what happens when at least a portion of the real-time position sensor data is inaccurate, missing or is lost. As a simple example, a real-time positioning system based on an expensive integrated GPS/INS solution can drift away from the true positions when the system enters an area covered by less than four GPS satellites for a long period of time. In a typical inventory tracking environment, inaccurate location measurements, if not corrected in time, can propagate into widespread inventory location errors. This occurs especially when tracking the position of containers or vehicles in a warehouse, container yard, or rail yard where tracking signals are often blocked. Resultant errors then require manual correction. The correction of the corrupted inventory database can create delays and often expensive corrective measures in resource management and inventory controls. Additionally, present systems lack the ability to expand to differentiate between objects or assets owned by sometime a large plurality of different parties at a single job site or location.
It is desirable, therefore, to provide a system and method that increases the accuracy of monitoring the real-time position of an object, especially as such position information can tell a user or system provider that an asset is or is not present a particular location or job site. It is further desirable to improve the accuracy of inventory location monitoring when one or more sensors, such as a GPS sensor, is unavailable or highly inaccurate due to noise. It is also desirable to track assets inexpensively, accurately, and automatically (without human involvement), and to differentiate between ownership of multiple assets by a single system within a single stationary or mobile geographic location.
The present invention relates generally to tracking systems for tracking the location of valuable materials, persons, objects, and more particularly, but not limited, to the tracking of tools or other assets through existing cellular network infrastructure, the global positioning system (GPS), WiFi networks, WiMax networks, and the like. The invention further relates to location and tracking systems and algorithms using a combination of directional vectors and signal strength estimates and location identifiers that are based on radio frequency transmissions. The invention also provides a system for asset tracking that is more prone to providing accurate and useful data to users and service providers.
There are earlier location systems which make use of the constellation of global positioning satellites orbiting the earth. Such systems range from navigational aids to tracking devices. For example, there is a vehicle tracking and security system that allows immediate response in case of vehicle theft, an accident, vehicle breakdown, or other emergency. Guardian and tracking functions are provided through mobile units installed in hidden locations in vehicles to be monitored. The mobile units communicate with a control center. Preferably, the mobile unit provides vehicle theft and intrusion protection using an in-vehicle alarm and security system linked to the control center by a transceiver in the mobile unit. In these systems, a keypad or other human interlace device is typically provided, allowing a vehicle driver or occupant to actively signal the control center that a particular type of assistance is needed. The vehicle's location may be automatically transmitted to the control center along with any automatic alarm signal or manually entered request, the location being precisely determinable anywhere in the world through use of Global Position System (GPS) information. The system provides continuous monitoring of a large number of vehicles for a broad range of status and emergency conditions over a virtually unlimited geographic area, also allowing manual communication of requests for assistance to that specific location. A limitation of such systems however, is the requirement of human activity to provide information to the system.
Another example of the use of GPS to track the location of an automobile is an automatic vehicle location system that includes a radio positioning system receiver which receives GPS radio signals and includes a two-gimbaled gyroscope, which is used by a dead-reckoning positioning system. A controller determines position based upon the radio positioning system when the radio signals are available and upon dead-reckoning when the radio signals are not available. The dead-reckoning process is based upon a compensation factor, which is established in response to data received from the radio positioning system. The compensation factor acts as an adjustment to an inner gimbal angle to compensate for a minor drift away from level by the inner gimbal. The use of gyroscopes, however, makes this an expensive and less robust system.
A further example is a method for detecting the position of a moving body in which the position of a moving body such as a vehicle can be detected with a high degree of precision. It is possible to perform data communication using radio waves between radio base stations and a vehicle capable of movement. Precise positions are stored in advance in the radio base stations. The radio base stations also include radio wave clocks that keep a common time. The radio base stations transmit radio waves containing this time information. The vehicle receives these radio waves and determines the difference between the received time information and the time provided by a clock in the vehicle, in order to detect the current position of the vehicle by calculating the distances between the vehicle and each of the radio base stations. Furthermore, it is also possible for the position of the mobile station to be calculated using a combination of information from the fixed station and information from GPS satellites. By employing this type of structure, it is possible to calculate the position of the mobile station even when it is not possible to calculate the position of the mobile station using the fixed stations alone or GPS satellites alone. Therefore, it is possible to find the position of the mobile station more accurately than when a conventional method is used.
There also exists a tracking device configured to resemble a stack of currency and represents a system for use in catching thieves. The device relates to the electronic tracking of cash stolen from a bank or other institution via an electronic signaling device placed within a stack of currency that transmits location information to the authorities as the cash is moved from location to location. The tracking device allows law enforcement officers to electronically monitor money stolen from a bank. The tracking device is sized to fit within a stack of currency in a teller's drawer or a bank's vault. When the tracking device is activated, it transmits a beacon signal that continuously runs for the duration of the battery. Thus, the tracking device would automatically send a signal to either fixed monitoring stations, such as antenna located on tall buildings, or to mobile monitoring stations, such as helicopters and/or police cars, allowing for continual tracking of the thief in possession of the stolen money. By knowing the location of the money, the police can track and apprehend the perpetrators. It is designed to be a circuit card smaller than a dollar bill and thin enough to be concealed between two sealed bills, thereby allowing it to be placed into a stack of money undetected. Further, the device is flexible and is able to be waterproofed, which will have no effect on its ability to be continually tracked, but would prevent someone from shorting out the device in liquid. Alternative embodiments allow variations of the tracking device to be placed within other objects of value. An alternative embodiment allows the tracking device to be automatically activated when it is taken past a certain point, e.g., an electronic fence, from where it is stored.
Furthermore, there are tracking systems for tracking the location of stolen articles, and more particularly, to disguised currency bundles for aiding law enforcement officials in apprehending thieves and recovering stolen monies. Such tracking is tracked by a tracking agency, which agency may work in concert with a law enforcement agency. In other situations, the functions of a tracking agency are undertaken by the law enforcement agency itself. Such system may include a security pack for assisting in the recovery of stolen monies, which includes a housing disguised as a bundle of currency bills, but containing a GPS receiver for receiving GPS signals from overhead satellites combined with a cellular phone transmitter (module), a microprocessor, antennae, and a battery. Following a bank robbery, the microprocessor activates the cellular phone transmitter to dial the telephone number of a central monitoring station. The microprocessor obtains location data from the GPS receiver and transmits the location data, along with identification information, to the central monitoring station. The security pack may also include a separate, conventional RF beacon transmitter for allowing authorities to home-in on the security pack within a large building or other structure, either after the GPS signals are lost, or after the location of the security pack is localized to a specific area or building.
All of the devices described above are implemented, or require for implementation, access to GPS or a custom radio network of receivers. This is an expensive requirement, increasing overall costs and the size of the devices. There is thus a need for a smaller, less expensive solution to tracking and aiding law enforcement officials in the recovery of lost or stolen articles or missing children while utilizing existing cellular telephone network infrastructure.
In accordance with the present invention, there is provided a system and method of determining whether a tagged asset is within or without of a stationary or mobile job site. Moreover, the present invention provides a system and method of determining the ownership of each asset at such a location. The present invention further provides a system and method for tracking the time assets or used and coordinating information for servicing, replacing, or adding assets to a user's inventory or a at a job site.
In one embodiment, updated location data is periodically received and communicated to the tracking service system, in order to generate updated geographic location data. The geographic location data is then communicated to a desired user, allowing the updated images representing the location of the asset to be viewed. In a preferred embodiment, a secondary tracking signal is received from a radio-frequency transmitter associated with the selected asset. The secondary tracking signal is then communicated to at least one associated tracking vehicle. This embodiment further includes the receiving tracking vehicle data from each associated tracking vehicle, which vehicle tracking data represents tracking vehicle location, tracking vehicle direction, tracking vehicle speed, or signal strength of a vehicle's received secondary tracking signal. The tracking data is then communicated to the security or other monitoring agency to allow for the viewing of updated images representing the location of each tracking vehicle.
Still further, in accordance with the present invention, there is provided an asset tracking management system and method. Device data is first received, representing properties of a plurality of asset tracking devices. The device data, representing the properties of the asset tracking devices is then displayed. Event data is then received, representing a tracking event associated with one of the asset tracking devices. This event data, representing the tracking event, is subsequently displayed. Device service data representing the maintenance history of the asset tracking devices is received and then displayed. Tracking data is then received, representing a temporal property corresponding to the tracking event. The tracking data corresponding to the temporal property is then displayed.
In a preferred embodiment, the device data includes identification data uniquely associated with each of the plurality of asset tracking devices, and asset association data, linked to device identification data, representing a particular asset associated with each respective device of the plurality. The event data associated with each event includes a unique event identifier associated with the event, and location data representing a location of an asset associated with the event. The device service data suitably includes data representative of an installation date of the device, and data representing a service period for the device.
Still further in accordance with the present invention, there is provided an asset tracking system and method. Location data is periodically received representing an updated location of a tracking device associated with an asset. Map data is then received and a map area is displayed, which map area is inclusive of the location. The map is periodically updated in accordance with newly acquired location data. A user specifies a desired scale level for the displayed map and the user's input is thereafter received, selectively scaling in and scaling out of the displayed map. In addition, input from the associated user specifying a display of historic location data is received, as well as means for displaying historic and updated location data in accordance with received user input.
In a preferred embodiment, data representing at least one of speed and velocity of the tracking device is received and an indicator is displayed, the indicator being of at least one of speed and velocity of the tracking device in accordance with received data.
Further in accordance with the present invention, there is provided a system and method for asset tracking. Notification data is received, representing the commencement of an asset tracking operation during which a selected asset is tracked. A tracking elapsed time is then tracked and associated with the asset tracking operation. Event data is then received, representing a triggering event associated with the tracking operation.
Still further in accordance with the present invention, there is provided a system and method for asset trucking. An identifier, representing at least one tracking event, is received and subsequently displayed. Date data, representing the at least one tracking event, is received. The date data, representing the tracking event, is then displayed. Data representing a temporal property associated with the at least one tracking event is received and displayed. Event data, corresponding to the at least one tracking event, is received. The event data is then displayed, corresponding to the at least one tracking event.
Still other aspects of the present invention will become readily apparent to those skilled in this art from the following description wherein there is shown and described a preferred embodiment of this invention, simply by way of illustration of one of the best modes suited for to carry out the invention. As it will be realized, the invention is capable of other different embodiments and its several details are capable of modifications in various obvious aspects all without departing from the invention. Accordingly, the drawing and descriptions will be regarded as illustrative in nature and not as restrictive.